Amazing Photos of an Atomic Blast (taken at 1/1000,000,000 of-a-second)

Harold Edgerton built a special lens 10 feet long for his camera which was set up in a bunker 7 miles from the source of the blast which was triggered Nevada – the bomb placed atop a steel gantry anchored to the desert floor by guide wires. The exposures are at 1/100,000,000ths of a second.

In a millisecond the blast expands; lightning caused by the force of the energy travels down the guide wires The desert floor was turned to glass.

In another millionth of a second, a planet of fire exists, silhouetting and dwarfing the Joshua Trees.